Prince Charming
by thisiswhereIkeepmyfics
Summary: When Mark comes back to Holby Rita needs her Prince Charming to ride in and rescue her. Can Iain manage to be the man Rita needs?
I had so many oneshot ideas racing round my head that I was writing about 6 at the same time so I didn't 'forget' any of my ideas. That didn't really work out too well so now I have a list of fics I want to write and some basic notes about what's going to happen in them. I may be writing Riain or a while!

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Rita had been getting through some paperwork when she heard the door to her office open and she looked up, a smile on her face, expecting it to be Iain, his shift was due to end soon. "Hiya…" she trailed off as she realised it was, infact, her ex husband who'd just walked into the room, "you shouldn't be in here" she tried to sound firm but the quiver in her voice told him he still had the same effect on her, she was still scared of him.

"We need to talk."

"No, no, you need to leave" Rita stood to make her way to the door, either to get Mark to leave or to leave herself but it was a bad move, she didn't make it to the door before Mark walked over to her, stepping closer and closer until he had her cornered, trapped between his body and the wall, the same way he had so many times over the course of their marriage, "loo at you" he sneered, "I don't now what I ever saw in you, you're cold, empty, heartless, I pity the next bloke that falls for you. You didn't know when you were onto a good thing. I was so god to you Rita, I let you get away with things no one else would have put up with. I tried to make you into a better person and you threw that back in my face. I think you need to apologise for what you did to me, for being so awful to me when all I ever did was love you and try to make you a better person." Rita could feel her heart pounding against her ribcage and she froze, she knew what came next, she knew she should run, scream, do anything to get away but she couldn't. She braced herself to feel his hands against her, she saw him raise his hand and she closed her eyes, desperately trying to stop her tears from falling, she didn't want him to see her cry, she didn't want him to know he'd got to her.

"Thought you might like a… What the hell do you think you're doing?" She'd never been so glad to hear Iain's voice.

"Piss off" Mark spat, his breath against Rita's cheek telling her that he hadn't even bothered to look away.

"I don't think so mate." Iain growled, Rita had never heard Iain's voice so low as he placed the coffees he'd bought on top of her filing cabinet before walking over to Mark.

"Just piss off and leave me and my wife alone." Mark hissed, one of his hands moving to grip Rita's waist, his fingers digging painfully into her skin through the thin fabric of her uniform.

"Yeah, that's not going to happen, and she's not your wife, not anymore is she? Now, are you going to do this the easy way or the hard way?"

"Is this him?" Mark laughed in Rita's face, "you left me for this pathetic idiot."

Iain didn't say another word, he simply lunged forward, grabbing the arm Mark still had raised to hit Rita and twisting it behind the man's back, "I gave you a choice, you should have walked away from her when I gave you the chance." He tightened his grip on the man's arm, "but if anyone in this room's pathetic then it's you, you're scum, she's a woman, she's half your size and you think you can intimidate and bully her into doing whatever you say? Not gonna happen mate, not as long as I'm still breathing."

"I'll have you for assault" Mark threatened.

"This? This isn't assault mate, if you want assault…"

"Iain" Rita whimpered, scared he was going to do something stupid as he opened the door to Rita's office, dragging Mark with him.

"Cal" Iain called over the first doctor he saw, "show this idiot back to his bed and get security to keep an eye on him" he said, pushing Mark forwards towards Cal.

Cal saw Rita slide down the wall in her office and nodded, "get back to bed" he said firmly, "Louise can you get security please?"

Iain saw Louise nod as he closed the door to Rita's office and silently sat on the floor beside her, "I'm sorry" she whispered.

"What for?" Iain frowned, "you didn't do anything."

"Exactly" she said quietly as she began to fiddle with the hem on her uniform, "I, I froze, I should have…"

"Rita" he gently took her hand in his, "he shouldn't have intimidated you, he shouldn't have put you in a position where you needed to protect yourself, you can't help the way your body responded. You were scared Reet, he shouldn't have been in here, it wasn't your fault." He paused for a minute, his thumb stroking over the back of her hand before he asked, "this isn't the first time this has happened is it?"

Rita shook her head, a tear rolling down her cheek, "no, he erm, he, he used to get quite violent when he'd been drinking" she admitted.

"Oh Reet" he sighed, holding his arms out to her and holding her closely as she curled into him and began to sob, "you're okay" he promised, "I meant what I said Rita, as long as I'm here he's not going to hurt another hair on your head."

"You shouldn't have to do that" she whispered.

Iain kissed her hair, "you shouldn't have to put up with him making you feel the way he does. I love you Rita and if I have to be all macho and protective over you the that's what I'll do."

"You, you love me?"

Iain nodded, "yeah, I know we said this was just a bit of fun but…" he shrugged, "I love you."

Rita looked up at Iain, "I love you too."

Iain smiled and softly kissed her lips before wiping her tears away, "how long have you got left?"

Rita glanced at the clock, "about two hours" she sighed.

"I've finished" Iain told her as he gestured to the coffees on top of the filing cabinet, "they should still be warm, I was going to have 10 minutes with you before I went to get changed and went home, I can stay if you want."

"Yeah" Rita nodded against his chest, "please."

"Come on then" Iain said, nudging her slightly, "let me get up."

Rita sighed dramatically and flopped back against the wall away from Iain, "you're so comfy."

"Come on" he laughed, holding out his hands to help Rita to her feet, "the sooner you get started, the sooner you'll be finished and we can go home and I'll hold you all night if that's what you want" he said, walking her over to her chair and pulling it out before pushing it back under her desk once she was settled and fetching her coffee.

"Can we go to yours?" She asked as she took off the lid and poured in the sugar Iain passed her, "I erm I don't know if Mark knows where I live."

"Yeah" Iain nodded, "of course we can."

A content silence filled the room, Iain made himself comfortable and began reading the news on his phone as he sipped at his coffee, Rita beginning to, once again, work her way through the large stack of paperwork she had on her desk.

"I'm done" she told him, a little over 2 hours later, "are you ready?"

"Yeah" he smiled, "come on, you can get changed and then come over to the ambo station so I can change, I'm not leaving you while I know he's here."

Rita nodded and stood from her desk, walking over to Iain and standing on tiptoes so she could wrap her arms around his neck and kiss him softly, "thank you."

Iain smiled, happily returning the kiss until his hand came to rest on Rita's waist and she hissed in pain, "what the…" he frowned as he remembered seeing Mark holding her and carefully lifted her top, feeling the anger bubbling through his veins when he saw the bruises beginning to appear on Rita's pale skin, "Oh Reet" he whispered, gently kissing the marks, "I'll get you some ice for them later, that should help with the pain.

"Thank you" she whispered, slipping her hand into his as she lead him from her office.

"Rita" Zoe walked over to them almost as soon as they'd left the safety of her office, "are you okay?" She asked, her hand coming to rest on Rita's upper arm, "Cal said something had happened with Mark."

Rita nodded, "yeah, he erm, he cornered me in my office, Iain came in at just the right minute" she said softly.

Zoe smiled sadly, she could tell Rita didn't really want to talk about it, "well you know where I am if you want anything" she said softly before looking up at Iain, "you take good care of her or you'll have me to deal with" she joked.

"Don't worry" Iain nodded, gently squeezing Rita's hand, "I'm not going to let him anywhere near her."

Zoe nodded, "like I said, if you need me…" she told Rita before walking off, trusting Iain to look after her friend.

"Oh you're kidding me" Iain sighed as they walked out of the hospital once Rita had changed and collected her things, only to find Mark waiting for them.

"Rita" he said, the blonde finding herself pulled tightly into Iain's side, his arm around her waist, but that didn't please Mark, "Get your filthy hands off my wife."

"I've already told you once" Iain spat, "I don't know how much clearer I can make it. She. Is. Not. Your. Wife." he said slowly, leaving Rita's side to approach Mark. Iain squared his shoulders and stepped towards the other man, laughing to himself as Mark took a step backwards, "what's wrong? Don't like it when someone gives you a taste of your own medicine hey? Can't take what you give? Or is it that you only like to fight women? You only throw your weight about when the other person's too small, too scared to fight back?"

"You know nothing about me" Mark laughed in Iain's face.

"I know more than you think. I know you think you're big and clever, I know you think you're a real man because you can beat a woman. You think you're so strong because you can intimidate someone half your size? Well you're not, you're scum, you're worthless and leaving you was the best thing Rita could ever have done. She deserves so much better than you could ever give her."

"What, and that's you is it? Prince charming riding in and saving the day."

"She's happy and she's safe from scum like you and I'm not going to waste my breath arguing with a waste of space like you so let me tell you what's going to happen. You are going to turn around and walk away from this hospital. You're not going to stop, you're not going to look back and you are never. Never. Going to bother Rita again. I can promise you now that if I ever find you, or hear that you've been anywhere near her you will not like what I do to you. Do you understand?"

Mark rolled his eyes, but didn't say anything, he was so used to getting his own way, to being the one that was intimidated that he didn't quite know how to react so, as Iain told him to, he simply walked away.

"You okay?" He asked, holding his arms out for Rita once Mark had left, the nurse flying into them and burying her head against his chest, she'd been so scared when she'd seen Mark, terrified that Iain was going to get hurt, she'd never seen Mark so placid, had her ex husband really been scared of Iain?

"Thank you" she whispered as she clung to him, "but if he comes back… don't, don't do anything stupid, don't get yourself into trouble for him."

"I won't" Iain promised, kissing the top of Rita's head. "If he comes back I'm going to ring the police, tell them he's been harassing you" he said softly, "how many times has he scared you with thoughts of what he might do?" Rita didn't reply, her silence answered for her, ' _too many_ '. "Well I think it's about time he had a taste of his own medicine, and if thinking I'm going to knock him into next week keeps him away then I'm not going to complain. Now come on" he slipped off his coat and wrapped it around her shoulders when he felt her shiver, "let me get changed then we can go home, I might even treat you to a takeaway if you're lucky."

Rita laughed and kissed Iain's lips, "was Mark right? Are you my prince charming?"

Iain bit his lip, wrapping his arm around Rita's shoulders as they walked the short distance back to the ambulance station, "I erm, I'd rather be your husband" he said quietly, not sure if now was the right time to mention it.

Rita stopped, "I… what?"

Iain turned to face her, "I love you" he said softly, and I know now might not be the right time to bring it up and I don't have a ring or anything but…"

"I erm, I don't…"

"If you don't want to marry me, either now or at all then that's fine, I'll understand, as long as you're happy with me then I'm not going anywhere, whether I'm your husband or your prince charming and I'll never, God Reet, I'd never lay a finger on you, I hope you know that."

"I do" she whispered, "I love you Iain, and I…" Iain could almost hear the cogs in Rita's brain turning so he didn't interrupt, he let her think about what she wanted to say. He smiled softly when she looked up at him, feeling like his heart would burst when she told him, "I'm sure my husband can be my prince charming too."


End file.
